While the ever-growing presence of mobile devices cannot be understated, figures recently released by research firm Canalys hint at how much this has occurred so far in a technology market formerly dominated by the PC.

It was claimed that for Q4, the Apple tablet computer brand was the market leader in sales when grouped for comparison with desktop products.

This figure was representative of one-sixth of the merged market, and when combined with Apple’s Macintosh range, the company controlled a quarterly market share of 20%. This saw the company receive a 12% boost from the iPad, pushing them ahead of what would ordinarily be the market leaders HP, with 11.7% for Q4.

Overall, it is recognized that tablet computers have performed well for the end of last year, as shipment levels increased by 75% on the Q3 2012, and that in the PC/tablet combined market, around a third of all sales were that of tablet devices, although the market as a whole was recorded as increasing 12% in shipments since Q4 2011.

However, this is including the emerging force of tablets, with traditional PC’s noted as being in a worsened state, with Canalys reporting that sales of notebook computers were ‘flat’ for Q4, while computing giants HP and Dell each saw a decline in their market shares.

While the general trend is now that PC’s are slowing and/or dropping in terms of their growth, tablet computers are not immune from poor performance, after the researchers added that Windows’ RT mobile device platform was responsible for just 3% of the ‘total market’ with 720,000 units, as Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling noted: “The outlook for Windows RT appears bleak. Hardware OEMs are ignoring it due, in part, to a pricing strategy that does not align with the economics of the pad market. We expect Microsoft to rethink its pricing strategy for RT in the coming weeks. Dropping the price by 60 per cent should get OEMs back onside.”

With many sources believing that ‘mobile-connected’ devices will outnumber humans by the end of this year, the market of personal computers can be a difficult one to monitor, but are the trends noted by Canalys a fair reflection on the current state of affairs, or is there still plenty of interest in PC’s?